Undated (ca. 1785) Bar copper. W-8520 MS-63 BN (PCGS).84.7 grains. Choice light brown with frosty luster and exceptional eye appeal for the assigned grade. The obverse glows with original mint frost, while the reverse luster is very lightly reflective. Some hints of mint color persist on the reverse. Very well centered for the issue, with denticles visible around the entire circumference, and fully struck at centers. No significant flaws are seen, just a tiny speck on the fattest part of the S near the junction with A and a few marks on the base of the left upright of the U. A single thin hairline parallel to the outside of the A in the right field is difficult to detect even under the best conditions. A stellar specimen of this iconic and popular issue.<p>The Bar copper is perhaps the early American coin best equipped to illustrate two great narratives of the Revolutionary-era: the military struggle for independence and the economic struggle against crummy coppers. Both the obverse and reverse designs of the Bar coppers were borrowed directly from buttons worn by Continental Army soldiers. The obverse design was commonplace throughout the war on the coats and vests of soldiers from New England to the Carolinas, making this design instantly familiar to most who encountered it. The lifespan of those buttons was longer than the circulation life of a Bar copper, however. Introduced in 1785, the Bar coppers were among the most underweight of the post-Revolutionary coppers, sometimes weighing as little as half of a Fugio copper. When the Copper Panic of 1789 hit New York, the Hudson Valley, Philadelphia, New Haven, and Boston, these were among the first coppers to be tossed from circulation, which is why AU Bar coppers are far more common than VGs. Choice Mint State remains a rare grade, as few got saved as souvenirs. This is one of the nicest ones to come on the market in recent years.PCGS Population: 4; 6 finer (MS-66 BN finest)From the Archangel Collection. Earlier, from Stack’s sale of the David Spence Collection, March 1975, lot 753.
